10.02
On September 20, 2009, I was informed by a “third party” that Rocky wanted to have a “private” meeting with me to discuss his actions regarding his conduct.
Before I was able to agree to Rocky’s meeting request, Rocky had already written a letter on official LTISD stationary from the Office of the Superintendent withdrawing his request to meet with me and he copied his letter to the LTISD Board of Trustees.
Note that Rocky did not directly send me a copy of his correspondence in which he “publicly announced” his decision to not have a “private meeting” that he requested!
Unfortunately Rocky publicized something that he said was private and in doing so forced me to respond publicly.
The following is my open letter in response to Rocky’s letter and his questionable motives. I have given Rocky the courtesy of receiving a copy of this letter from me directly.
Dear Dr. Kirk:
A copy of your September 25, 2009 letter has been forwarded to me. There is clearly some misunderstanding regarding your request to meet with me. I was told of your offer to meet with me on Sunday, September 20, 2009 and I was told that there was no urgency on my part to reply to your offer.
It was also explained to me that this meeting was about accountability for your actions and that you refused to discuss any of the issues brought on by your conduct. Your subsequent withdraw of your offer to meet and your written correspondence leads me to question your sincerity and your motives. Was your offer to meet genuine? If so, please contact me directly to schedule a meeting. Otherwise I will know that you were not sincere and you never intended to honor your word.
I do not understand why you felt it necessary to contact me regarding this meeting through third parties. It was my understanding that you were asking to meet with me not as the Superintendent of the LTISD, but as a Christian. I assume this is why you indicated that you were not willing to discuss anything other than your conduct. I was also told that you were meeting with me against the advice of your legal counsel.
In February 2006, you directly contacted me and asked to meet with me. I willing came to your office and discussed my concerns including my son’s special education program at that time. You stated that you would look into the issues over the “next couple of days.” I came away from this meeting confident that you would fulfill your promise. Instead of honoring your word, Pamela Carroll, who was the Director of Special Education at the time, served us notice that my son’s program would be changed without consent. I was very distressed that you would so blatantly disregard your commitment to look into the matter. When I asked you if this was a mistake and not your intent, you responded with a three page written letter blaming me for your failure to uphold your word.
When you indicated that you wanted to meet with me again, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and on September 25, 2009, I agreed to meet with you. I was dismayed to learn that you had written a public letter declining to have a private meeting that you had requested. Again, I am the fool for believing you.
Was it your intent to have a private meeting? Your letter states that you hoped the meeting would “work towards a healthier and brighter future between Mr. Lovelace and the District.” As I stated earlier, you told the third-party intermediaries that you would not discuss any issues regarding the District. It is my understanding that this was to be a private accountability meeting regarding your conduct. Why would you have wanted to include Mr. Alexander, who is employed by your church, if the meeting was going to be about building a future between me and the District? Why did you feel the need to send your letter to each Board member if this were to be a private meeting?
While you claim that your offer to meet was in direct opposition to your job as Superintendent, I noticed that you chose to write a letter about the meeting on official LTISD stationary from the Office of the Superintendent. This confirms my earlier suspicion that you never intended to meet with me as a Christian, but were using the offer to once again launch a personal attack on me. I am unaware of any terms in your contract regarding censorship of tax payer’s free speech.
If you were sincere about building a “healthier” relationship, why have you allowed Susan Bohn to write a misleading letter to over 600 parents? Ms. Bohn attempts to characterize me a threat to children because I requested pictures and media that had been previously released for publication by the LTISD? My public information request stated that if anything responsive to the request is confidential, please contact me. Ms. Bohn’s office has contacted me on numerous occasions in the past regarding account numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, etc. Ms. Bohn has also sought clarification when the request was interpreted as being broad in scope. Why did she not seek any kind of clarification regarding this request? Does Ms. Bohn believe that check routing numbers are more important to protect than the confidentiality of children? Have I not repeatedly asked you and the Board to be held accountable when confidential records are mishandled? Have I not repeatedly asked for ALL Board members to set an example and receive confidentiality training? It appears that both you and Ms. Bohn care more about account numbers than children in the District.
Once I was made aware of Ms. Bohn’s letter, my attorney, Bill Aleshire, attempted to contact Ms. Bohn regarding clarification of the request. Ms. Bohn refused to return his urgent calls or emails. Is this how you, the Superintendent of the LTISD, want Ms. Bohn to conduct District business? Chris Gilbert of the contract law firm Thompson & Horton, explained to Mr. Aleshire that a second letter to parents would be sent out regarding my clarification of the request. I have obtained a copy of Ms. Bohn’s letter which was allegedly sent out. I have yet to learn of anyone receiving Ms. Bohn’s clarification correspondence. Ms. Bohn’s attempt at clarification said nothing about her failure to contact me regarding the broad scope and confidential material responsive to my request. You have allowed Ms. Bohn to publish misleading information regarding this request a second time. Some LTISD parents have used Ms. Bohn’s inaccurate facts to launch an intentional assault on me.
You and the Board have stated that you both support open government through the Public Information Act. However, your actions show otherwise. Why does LTISD continue to waste taxpayer dollars by fighting open records request by persistently going to the Attorney General office month after month over the same type of request?
Why aren’t you and the Board more proactive than reactive to my requests? Why is it that the LTISD start posting BoardBook information on the District’s website only after I had requested the information repetitively through the Public Information Act? How is it that releases to the media for the last two school years magically appear on the website after I request them? I am glad that you took my advice from the open letter I wrote to you and the Board published in the Lake Travis View on November 2, 2006. But I wonder why has LTISD stopped there? As I have pointed out in the past, the LTISD owns the software and has the website capability to post the check register on line as many other Texas school districts have done. What are you trying to hide? Surely, the time it takes to request an opinion from the Attorney General’s office and correspondence with me could be put to better use by posting this information on line so everyone can be better informed about their government.
I am proud to be an American where everyone has the right to question their government and everyone enjoys the right of free speech. I am confident that the right of free speech even extends to the political satire that you attacked in your letter. I guess you don’t appreciate the humor of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert? Or perhaps you should remove all of John Updike’s works from the District’s libraries since he once edited the Harvard Lampoon. You considered my political satire to be over the top, yet you have failed to take issue until recently. In an effort to promote an open dialogue with you, I have removed what you considered offensive from my website. I even offered to discuss your definition of “highly offensive material” during your proposed meeting.
It deeply troubles me that you, Susan Bohn and some Board members have resorted to the irresponsible behavior of attacking me personally instead of promoting an open dialogue about how tax dollars are spent by the LTISD. I question if these attacks are deliberate since I have publically questioned the Board regarding your frequent pay raises, the need for a rollback election, the districts faltering TEA rating and your hiring and management of administrative personnel. Surely you do not wish to assail anyone who uses their rights of free speech?
My vision for the future is that the LTISD encourages social responsibility by posting all of its public documents online. What an astonishing example the LTISD could be to the community and the state by promoting financial responsibly and open government. I look forward to the day that my requests for public information are no longer necessary and for a time when we can agree to disagree without your disrespect of my right to free speech.
As Superintendent, you are responsible for all of your employees’ actions. You set the tone for the work environment and the treatment of others. You profess a desire to improve the relationship between District and me; however at every possible turn you blame and harass me for speaking out against the District.
I am still willing to meet with you.
Sincerely,
David Lovelace
